State-Nations, the Legitimacy-Legality Constitutional Conundrum and Sub-State Party System Realignments: Catalonia and Puerto Rico (2005-2018)

This article explores the relation between constitutional moments and the politics of sub-state national societies in multinational democracies, particularly, in the recent context of Puerto Rico and Catalonia. Most formulations of the legitimacy-legality constitutional paradox are based on the observation that at times there can be a collision between constituent power and constitutional form, or a clash between politics and law, or between democracy and constitutionalism. Such a collision can lead to a clash of legitimacies between an established constitutional form and the constituent power represented by the democratic will of a people in a well-defined territory. The article utilizes Puerto Rico and Catalonia as examples of sub-state national societies that are part of a much larger state with different national characteristics, and recently both of their party systems have undergone major changes, which are in fact still ongoing. It does this to prove the above.